A week is left until the end of the World Cup. The list of applicants for the title has shrunk so much that they can now be counted on the fingers of one hand. And four-fingered, as sports journalists like to joke. Germany, France, Italy, Portugal. One of them.
Germany is a new favorite. At least at bookmakers. After the victory over the Argentines and the sensational relegation of the Brazilian national team, it is believed that the hosts are beyond competition. Despite the fact that they were not knocked out of the tournament by the Brazilians, but France - beautifully, efficiently and outwardly quite easily knocked out. But the French in the betting table of ranks are only second. And the Italian team was attached to them, about which you can’t understand whether it’s really a contender for gold, or it’s just lucky for rivals in the playoffs and refereeing errors. The quartet closes Portugal. The Scolari team already sent the English home, and a little earlier - the Dutch, but the feeling that it was brought into the semifinals by some random wave is still present
Russian sports fans are among the most gambling in the world, and the football championship has increased the number of players playing on the sweepstakes five times. This figure was reported to Izvestia by the manager of the VON betting office Kirill Granovsky. “No other event, including the Olympics, warms the market like that,” he admitted. The maximum bet that a player can make is 250 thousand rubles. "However, by mutual agreement, we can accept a larger amount. Several people have already bet a million. Mostly on the favorites, of course, when the risk of mistakes is minimal," the source said.
Before the quarter finals, the Brazilian national team was considered the undisputed favorite of the tournament. However, it was clear that as soon as the winner of the Germany-Argentina pair was revealed, his chances of gold medals would be no worse than Brazil's. The assumption that after the pentacampheon would have no chance at all after Saturday evening did not occur to anyone, except for the brilliant, bald-headed head of Zidane. Now the owners of the bookmakers out of competition. Moreover, the fact that in the quarterfinal match Germany enjoyed the favor of the referee was also interpreted in her favor: oh, the Germans are still being whistled ...
However, the most impressive step forward was made by the French. Being third from the end in the betting table of ranks on the eve of the quarter finals, Zidane and his comrades are now second from the beginning (which, incidentally, is still “third from the end”, given the number of teams remaining in the championship - well, God bless him). And it seems that the only reason France’s chances are rated lower than Germany’s is the venue of the championship with all its derivatives. Because the game that the French demonstrated in the match with Brazil is so far the best and most powerful of what has already been at the tournament.
Cyril Granovsky told Izvestia that virtually every second player who made a bid for victory in the championship gave preference to five-time champions. "Today, there is a lull in our ticket offices," Granovsky admits, "apparently people have not yet had time to move away from the shock associated with the departure of the Brazilians." However, not everyone was shocked: "There were those who in the game Brazil - France bet on the French with a coefficient of 5.8. Three risked decent amounts - 50 thousand rubles each."
Granovsky expects that now, after the game that France showed in the quarterfinals, the Russians will actively bet on her victory. “The Germans are mostly betting on the Germans, the second,” he says. “Although I believe that in the semifinal game they will have serious problems: Portugal is clearly underestimated.”
Chermen Dzgoev